Healthcare
Roundup
 
11 November 2022
 
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Seven days in the NHS and health IT
NHS
NHS England prepares for strike action as major unions ballot members  
Nurses across the UK look set to strike over pay. A Royal College of Nursing ballot closed with nurses at 130 organisations turning out and voting in sufficient numbers for strike action. The union is calling for a rise of 5% above RPI inflation (currently 10.1%). In July, the government announced the 1 million staff covered by Agenda for Change pay scales would get a pay rise of at least £1,400 per year, which it billed as 5.5% for newly qualified nurses and 9.3% for the lowest paid staff (DHSC news release). However, UNISON calculated newly qualified nurses will see their pay rise by just 72p per hour.
 
Both UNISON and Unite, which represent ambulance workers, porters, cleaners and administrative staff, as well as nurses, are seeking strike mandates from members; although UNISON has suspended action in Scotland, where the government has come back with a £2,200 flat-rate offer (Unison). The BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee has voted to go out to ballot on industrial action in January, after the government refused to restore pay and conditions to 2008-9 levels (thebmj). NHS England has instructed healthcare organisations to run an exercise called Arctic Willow next week to test data returns and the system’s response to strikes and winter pressures.
Social care
Social care reforms set to be abandoned, again 
Reports are circulating that chancellor Jeremy Hunt will delay the introduction of a cap on social care funding costs when he delivers his autumn statement next week. The cap was the major feature of former prime minister Boris Johnson’s announcements on social care; but the Local Government Association has been calling for a delay to check there is enough money in the system to avoid provider failure. Sally Warren, director of policy at the King’s Fund, warned that delay could lead to the latest reforms being abandoned. Meanwhile, the social care crisis continues to drive demand on the NHS and to contribute to delayed discharges.
Health IT
BMJ editorial condemns ‘failing IT’
A blistering editorial in thebmj has condemned inefficient and outdated IT infrastructure as a drain on clinical productivity and a threat to patient safety. Three authors use the extensive outage at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust this summer as an example of the “growing disconnect” between “government messaging promoting a digital future for healthcare” and reality on the ground. To address it, they argue a “carrot and stick” approach is needed, in which the government invests in IT, but suppliers adopt safety standards. They also call for better procurement, a quality improvement approach to address incidents, and regulatory oversight by the Care Quality Commission.
EPR
Fast follower reaches HIMSS 5 
One of the ‘fast follower’ trusts in the global digital exemplar programme has reached Level 5 on the HIMSS EMRAM maturity model; the level anticipated when the programme was set-up and the level the NHS England transformation directorate has indicated that it wants all trusts to get to via the ‘frontline digitisation’ programme. North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust has got to HIMSS 5, after working with the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust. As a fast follower, North Middlesex set up a clinically-led digital leadership team, introduced a single electronic patient record, and implemented e-prescribing, e-obs, e-noting, and single sign-on, digitalhealth.net reports.
EPR
Medway sees more Sunrise
Medway NHS Foundation Trust has extended the use of its Sunrise electronic patient record to its emergency department. The trust is also using the Altera Digital Health system for electronic prescribing and medications management across the hospital (Building Better Healthcare). The trust is working through a phased deployment of the latest version of Sunrise and is already using the EPR on its adult inpatient wards. Sunrise was developed by Allscripts and was one of the assets acquired by N. Harris Computer Corporation in March. Harris rebranded Allscripts as Altera Digital Health when the deal went through in May.
Pathology
West Midlands Cancer Alliance works with Sectra on digital pathology project 
The West Midlands Cancer Alliance is working with Sectra on a digital pathology project covering 5.8 million people across four NHS pathology networks and 17 NHS trusts. The project, which is one of the biggest digital pathology programmes in Europe, is turning traditional slides into digital images. Giving pathologists and clinicians access to these images through Sectra’s picture archiving and communications system will make best use of capacity, enable them to share expertise, and support the introduction of AI triage tools. Technical go-live is complete, so pathologists will now start transitioning from their traditional to digital ways of working, Pathology in Practice reports. 
Health IT
New frameworks: for primary care and ambulance EPRs 
Eight suppliers have been added to a framework to “boost innovation and choice” in the primary care IT market. The Tech Innovation Framework from NHS Digital is part of the GP IT Futures programme, which is looking to move primary care computing towards open, cloud-based, internet-first systems (digitalhealth.net). Meanwhile, suppliers are being invited to bid for a place on a national framework agreement for electronic patient record systems for ambulance trusts. A tender notice says ambulance services in the UK are looking to drive cost savings, improve processes, and support efficient handover to other providers (digitalhealth.net).
Health IT
Health IT news: about NICE CBT guidance, a PCN hub supported by EMIS, and apps for skin lesions and exercise therapy 
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended five digital cognitive behavioural therapy products for children and young people with symptoms of mild to moderate anxiety. Draft guidance says the technologies should be used with the support of a mental health professional (The Guardian). The Folkstone Hythe and Rural primary care network has deployed EMIS technology to a hub that enables healthcare teams to triage appointments from member practices to non-GP practitioners. The PCN is using EMIS Web PCN Hub, Consultation Write Back, and Apex Analytics, to provide single sign-on to records and referral tools, file notes to the GP record, and analyse activity (digitalhealth.net).
 
Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland integrated care board has worked with Skin Analytics to give hospital dermatology services access to an AI decision support tool called DERM. The tool helps with the analysis of images of suspected cancer lesions, to determine whether they need priority investigation by a dermatologist (Health Tech Newspaper). Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is using the Walk-A-Cise smartphone app to encourage patients with vascular disease to complete their exercise therapy. The app monitors how far patients have walked, encourages them to do more, and lets them communicate with clinicians (digitalhealth.net).
Crisis, what crisis? When things go wrong, good communications can get you back on track
Highland Marketing Blog
When things go wrong, keeping quiet isn’t an option. What you say, and how you say it, are the key to safeguarding your reputation. In this blog, Highland Marketing’s co-founder, Mark Venables, looks at communicating in a crisis.
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